A Conversation with Professor Tadeusz Caliński

Abstract

Tadeusz Caliński was born in Poznań, Poland in 1928. Despite the absence of formal secondary eduction for Poles during the Second World War, he entered the University of Poznań in 1948, initially studying agronomy and in later years mathematics. From 1953 to 1988 he taught statistics, biometry and experimental design at the Agricultural University of Poznań. During this period he founded and developed the Poznań inter-university school of mathematical statistics and biometry, which has become one of the most important schools of this type in Poland and beyond. He has supervised 24 Ph.D. students, many of whom are currently professors at a variety of universities. He is now Professor Emeritus.

Among many awards, in 1995 Professor Caliński received the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding achievements in the fields of Education and Science. In 2012 the Polish Statistical Society awarded him The Jerzy Spława-Neyman Medal for his contribution to the development of research in statistics in Poland. Professor Caliński in addition has Doctoral Degrees honoris causa from the Agricultural University of Poznań and the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

His research interests include mathematical statistics and biometry, with applications to agriculture, natural sciences, biology and genetics. He has published over 140 articles in scientific journals as well as, with Sanpei Kageyama, two important books on the randomization approach to the design and analysis of experiments.

He has been extremely active and successful in initiating and contributing to fruitful international research cooperation between Polish statisticians and biometricians and their colleagues in various countries, particularly in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Portugal. The conversations in addition cover the history of biometry and experimental design in Poland and the early influence of British statisticians.